Day 3 – Bijapur and Kudala Sangama

Date: 27-Sep-15

Bijapur Monuments

After visiting the monuments of 6th century, it was time for us to visit the monuments which belonged to 14th -16th centuries. Bijapur is home for numerous masterpieces built during Adil Shahi and other Mughal dynasty around 600 years back. This place, now called as Vijayapura is one of the largest districts of Karnataka and one of the major tourist destinations.

Since Gol Gumbaz opens only at 10 AM, we decided to visit Ibrahim Rauza first. We checked out of the hotel at around 7.30 AM and started towards Ibrahim Rauza at 7.45 AM which was around 4 kms from our hotel. The city of Bijapur is fairly well maintained. You can find many old buildings on the way.

By the time, we reached Ibrahim Rauza, it was around 8 o’clock. It looked magnificent from the entrance gate. The path to the main monument goes in between the huge garden. As soon as we entered the main gate, the two twin buildings looked even more amazing.

Ibrahim Rauza

Ibrahim Rauza was built by Ibrahim Adil Shah during 16th century. It has his tomb and exactly opposite to it is the mosque. The minarets on the both the buildings are flawless. There are fine carvings on the walls and on the minarets of both the buildings. The place was quiet and the nice wind blowing in the sunny weather made us sit for some time there. It is said that the tomb of Ibrahim Rauza was the inspiration for the design of popular Taj Mahal. This is also called as “The Taj Mahal of the Deccan”.

Bara Kaman

Entrance fee – None

Bara Kaman

At around 8.45 AM, we left from Ibrahim Rauza and had breakfast at Udupi restaurant in a hotel called VKG hotel. Our next place to visit was another famous monument called Bara Kaman which was very near to the restaurant. Bara Kaman is an unfinished tomb of Ali Adil Shah II. It is huge and has an interesting history. Ali Adil Shah of Adil Shahi dynasty started building this monument in 1672 AD. It was supposed to have 12 vertical arches and 12 horizontal arches surrounding the tomb of Ali Adil Shah. Had it been constructed completely, it would have become one of the largest monuments. But, Ali Adil Shah was killed by his father Muhammad Adil Shah who did not want Bara Kaman to lessen the glory of Gol Gumbaz which was dedicated to himself. Now, only the remains of the 12 horizontal arches can be seen and it speaks the dark history of this mausoleum.

The main attraction in Bijapur is Gol Gumbaz. It has the second largest dome in the world. Gol Gumbaz was built by Muhammad Adil Shah in 1656 and it houses the tombs of himself and his family members. It is famous for its massive dome which is 124 feet in diameter. I never imagined it to be so huge. But, when it was in front of me, I was stunned to see such a gigantic dome.

Gol Gumbaz has four minarets which are the staircases leading to the top dome. This staircase is bit tough to climb as the steps are very steep. At the end of every story, there is a small gallery to stand which gives magnificent view of the town as well as the fine carvings on the outer wall of Gol Gumbaz. The view becomes more and more beautiful in each story as we climb up. When you reach the top, the walkway around the dome gives extremely beautiful view of the town.

Interior and Exterior of Gol Gumbaz

In addition to its large dome, Gol Gumbaz is famous for its acoustical system. The wide gallery all around the inner periphery of the dome is called Whispering gallery. The finest whispering sound made here is heard multiple times and a single clap is heard more than ten times in this amazing gallery. We had fun experiencing this.

Jamiya Masjid

Entrance fee – None

Jamiya Masjid, also called as Jama Masjid or Jumma Masjid, is one of the largest mosques in South India. It was built by Ali Adil Shah I in the year 1578. Nearly 2500 persons can offer prayers at a stretch. The work inside the mosque is plain and simple, but the prayer hall is extremely huge.

Jamiya Masjid

After visiting Jamiya Masjid, we had lunch at Kamat restaurant and left Bijapur at around 2 PM. My in-laws were very much interested to visit Kudala Sangama which was not there in our original plan. Since we had some time left today, we decided to give them a surprise by visiting Kudala Sangama.
Kudala Sangama

Entrance fee at Kudala Sangama – 20 Rs/person

Entrance fee at Aikya Mantapa – 2 Rs/person

Kudala Sangama is in Bagalkot district and is around 95 km from Bijapur. This is the most important pilgrimage center for Hindus, especially for Lingayat community. Kudala Sangama is the birthplace of Basavanna who was the founder of Lingayat faith. This is the place where the rivers Krishna and Malaprabha meet. On the river bank, the Sangameshwara temple built in Chalukyan style (built in 12th century) is situated. This temple has intricate carvings which is a treat to watch. One more major attraction of Kudala Sangama is Aikya Mantapa which has the holy Samadhi of Basavanna along with Linga which is believed to be self-born. The spiral staircase is constructed to reach the main Linga.

Kudala Sangama

After the visit of the temple, we went to Kamat Upachar hotel in Kudala Sangama for evening snacks. At around 5 o’clock, we started our return journey towards Bangalore. We took the same route that we took for our onward journey. We came via NH13, which covered the places Hungund > Hospet > Chitradurga (The route map is shown below). At Hiriyur, we finished our dinner at around 10 PM in Atithya Midway Plaza. Then, we took the AH47 highway and reached home at 12.30 PM.

The total toll fee that we paid during our return journey is as follows: